5 things you probably didn't know about Kyedae

Kyedae is one of the most popular Valorant content creators on Twitch. Part of the 100 Thieves group, the streamer has been making waves on social media and won Best Valorant Streamer of the Year at this year's Streamer Awards. Having started streaming in 2020, she saw a meteoric rise in popularity, signing with 100 Thieves as a content creator in April 2021.

As a highly popular content creator and streamer, Kyedae naturally has a dedicated fanbase. While she does talk a lot about her life on stream, here are five things about the streamer that fans might not know.

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5 interesting facts about Kyedae that fans should know

1) Japanese is her first language

Although she speaks fluent English on stream and was born in Canada, Shymko spent her childhood in Japan. Her mother is Japanese, while her father is Ukrainian-Canadian, making her biracial. As a child, the would-be Valorant streamer grew up in Sendai, so Japanese became her first language. In a tweet replying to a person claiming she can't really speak the language, she said this:

While she primarily speaks English when streaming, Kyedae briefly uses Japanese on camera. She once answered a call from her mother while she was live on Twitch and shared a brief conversation in her mother tongue. Below is a clip of the interaction as shared by fans on YouTube.

Apart from Japanese, she speaks English with a Canadian accent and can speak basic Russian and Ukrainian because of her dad.

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2) Allergic to cats

Fans will know that TenZ and Kyedae have two dogs as pets, Kuro and Mochi. Both dogs have appeared on stream multiple times and become fan favorites. However, more casual viewers might not know that the Valorant Streamer of the Year is, in fact, allergic to cats.

She said she would like a feline pet but cannot due to her allergies. Here is a tweet replying to a short clip of QTCinderella's cat Coots that she posted about:

It appears that the 100 Thieves member has tried to circumvent her medical malady by trying to get a hairless cat as a pet. In a tweet replying to Twitch streamer Classify, she mentioned how her partner TenZ doesn't like how they look and is opposed to getting a hairless cat.

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3) What does Kyedae Mean?

As a Canadian born to Japanese and Ukrainian parents, Shymko had a multilingual and biracial upbringing and spent her childhood in Japan. The name "Kyedae" commemorates her diverse heritage as it literally translates to "Maple" or "Kaede" in Japanese, a leaf that is symbolically connected to Canada.

She pronounces it as "kaid e" in English and has been using it as her main IGN and Twitch handle. While an uncommon name in Japan, Kaede has gained prominence in recent years due to its usage in anime such as Naruto and Assassination Classroom.

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4) Has sister who is also Twitch partner

Having joined Twitch and started streaming in 2020, Kyedae has risen to the top of the industry with over 2.3 million followers on the platform. Streaming seems to have brushed onto her younger sibling Sakura Shymko, who has already become a Twitch partner.

Like her older sister, Sakura also plays a lot of Valorant and, according to her bio, is a part-time streamer who also does Just Chatting streams. As of writing this article, the 17-year-old has amassed 64K followers, and Twitch Tracker notes that she averages 400 viewers.

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5) Kept cancer diagnosis from family members to not distract TenZ

Fans may know of Kyedae's leukemia diagnosis, especially after the controversy surrounding the Streamer Awards, where she faced backlash after some claimed her win was due to "pity votes." Regardless, outsiders might not know that she kept the news of the diagnosis hidden from her family and fiance, TenZ.

In one of her first streams after announcing that she had cancer, Kyedae revealed that she intended to keep the news from her fiance so as not to distract him from playing at his best during the VCT:

"But I didn't... tell anyone actually. Not even my mom or my dad, or Tyson, until after his tournament. I just wanted to make sure that he was fully focused on his game and his work, before I, like, broke the news. I obviously didn't want him to be in a different headspace for it."

Kyedae is known for her charming personality and has improved significantly at Valorant since she started streaming in 2020. She was even part of Disguised Toast's DSG VCT Game Changers roster.